A total of 18 countries will be represented at the sixth annual Asia Pacific Screen Awards (APSA) in the Australian east coast city of Brisbane next month.

An unprecedented 264 films were entered in this year’s competition, with 34 featuring in the nominations announced today.

The Hong Kong martial triller 'Wu Xia', directed by Peter Chan, is one of five films nominated for Best Feature Film.

It recently won Best Cinematography and Best Original Score at the Hong Kong Film Awards.

Tight competition'Bumchoiwaui Junjaeng' (Nameless Gangster: Rules of the Time) from South Korean director Yun Jong-bin is also in the running.

It stars Kim Sung-kyun who picked up the Best New Actor award at Seoul's Baeksang Arts Awards in April.

They will compete with the Iranian film 'Khers' (Bear), 'Orda' (The Horde) from Russia and 'Tepenin Ardi' (Beyond the Hill), a collaboration between Turkey and Greece.

In the runningJapan has dominated the Best Animated Feature Film category, picking up four of the five nominations with 'Kokurikozaka Kara' (From Up on Poppy Hill), 'Momo e no tegami' (A Letter to Momo), 'Nijiiro Hotaru' (Rainbow Fireflies) and

'Ookamikodomo no Ame to Yuki' (Wolf Children).

Australia, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, China, the Philippines and Taiwan are also represented in various other categories.